COLONY — Small classes have been a fact of life at Crest High School.
The class of 2012 — which graduates Saturday — is no different, with only 13 students.
But for Arlynna Hendrix, Shayla Stephens, Katrina Strickler and Jayden Bowen, some classes would often be even smaller — just those four.
That’s what happens when a small group of students take the toughest road possible to graduation.
Rather than coast through their junior and senior campaigns, the quartet enrolled in courses such as calculus, Spanish II and anatomy and physiology. All four enrolled in dual-credit courses in college as well, each already knocking out a semester’s worth, or more.
So it’s little wonder the four are under consideration for valedictorian honors at Saturday’s commencement ceremony.
All have have maintained perfect, or nearly perfect grade-point averages.
Even Jerry Turner, high school principal and USD 479’s superintendent of schools, declined to venture a guess who would take the top honor.
“They’re all neck and neck, and we still have classes to compute,” Turner said earlier this week. “It could be any one of them.”
DOING IT the hard way, came naturally for the four.
“I think we would have had regrets if we had not,” said Hendrix, who plans to take her talents to Allen Community College in the fall to study pre-medicine. From there, she plans to transfer to Pittsburg State University. “Doing well was always something of a goal, just to get scholarships to help pay for college.”
Strickler and Stephens also have decided to stay close to home, enrolling at ACC.
Stephens remains undecided about her future plans; Strickler will participate with the Red Devil dance team before transferring to Kansas State University, where she will pursue a double-major, in apparel and textiles and fashion design.
Bowen, meanwhile, is headed to Pittsburg State University, where he will enroll in honors college courses — he’ll need them for his biology and pre-med majors he’s pursuing — while walking on for the defending NCAA Divsion II football champion Gorillas.
Bowen admitted giving little thought to enrolling at PSU until the school’s football staff gave him a call last December, including a recruiting video in January.
